Posts Tagged ‘justice’

“I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Yeah, that’s an oldie but a goodie. Let me use that as an introduction (well, I just did, thanks) to news revealed by the New Zealand Government. It’s in a very nicely laid out booklet called ‘National Plan to Address Cybercrime’ (right); with a tagline: ‘Improving […]

It appears Judge Clifford was not amused nor mollified by the weasel words of the police and their post-facto legal enablers trying to portray their 10-hour full-spectrum fishing expedition at investigative journalist Nicky Hager’s house as somehow ‘OK’. You can read Clifford’s High Court judgement in full (as I did last night) here: Hager v […]

This testimony by Alexa O’Brien provides a good, compact ‘highlights’ package/history of the treatment whistle-blower Chelsea Manning received at the hands of the US Military judicial system. The video features her speaking with a translator (21 mins) while in the audio below (mp3 10 mins) the translator has been trimmed out. Worth paying attention to, […]

Worth reading. Daniel Ellsberg: Snowden would not get a fair trial – and Kerry is wrong As I know from my own case, even Snowden’s own testimony on the stand would be gagged by government objections and the (arguably unconstitutional) nature of his charges. That was my own experience in court, as the first American […]

This defamation case should be a shot across the bows of various internet wide-boys who think ‘defence of truth’ or ‘opinion honestly held’ is some kind of magic elixir or Get Out of Jail Free card. It’s worth noting the oh-so-easy-to-reach-for-until-you’re-tested ‘truth defence’ in this case was abandoned during the trial. In her ruling, released […]

The Southland Times Editorial: Discomforting scrutiny is worth a read. The editorial is a reference to the news that the NZ Press Council wants to offer a warm embrace to bloggers — perhaps to shore up its membership. And relevance? (Am I being too cynical?) Although, describing a judge’s decision as of “dullardly calibre” because you see […]

I only know what’s been reported about this case, but it makes the point, doesn’t it?, that lawyers and their ethical standards fall on a bell-shaped curve, like the rest of us. For the Law Society (which can often be perceived as taking a ‘circle the wagons’ approach to criticism or complaints against dodgy lawyers) […]

Reader & commenter here at The Paepae, Ivan the Terrible, asked me last night whether I ‘fancy’ myself as a philosopher. This was in the context of my post Settlement of legal action as a ‘peace premium’ about the wisdom/risk management of settling a dispute, where possible, rather than pursuing it through the courts. I […]

It’s pretty clear there’s a market for ‘hot’ Apple devices — ‘hot’ as in stolen! The police think reducing a device’s ability to be reset after theft from its lawful owner will reduce the market. Hence, as Michael Hoffman (@Hoffm) discovered, NYPD are promoting the new security feature of Apple’s iOS7 … with a public […]

Ben Uffindell of The Civilian blog is seen as our latest Bright Young Thing of political satire — and rightly so. With his delightful mimicry of the ‘voice’ of news reporting (much like The Onion, although he’ll perhaps be tiring of that comparison) Ben manages to produce satire that is so soaked in verisimilitude that […]

Pretty sharp cartoon from Emmerson in today’s NZ Herald: But last night’s Campbell Live report on the GCSB bill featuring an international observer* expressing astonishment at the Key Administration ‘kissing the feet’ of Washington DC, tells a different story. Watch it: Dissecting the GCSB bill The team Campbell Live is doing a sterling job … […]

This blog post (below) from Roger Brooking gives me the creeps. Go and have a read and see what you think. Judith Collins’ staff editing wikipedia articles on justice issues in NZ? I’ll wait. Interesting, huh? Not so much for the [alleged] revelation that someone from Justice minister Judith Collins’ office tried to influence who […]

Earlier this week I saw Frank Mackasy described as an ‘another activist’ making submissions on the proposed GCSB bill at the Intelligence & Security committee…. Earlier, another activist Frank Macskasy told the committee the existing oversight of intelligence agencies hadn’t worked. Mr Macskasy said he was concerned that within a few years the GCSB and […]

It’s sometimes possible to ‘get a sense’ of an author by what they write. (Not always.) I’ve talked about the work of Judge David Harvey, New Zealand’s ‘internet judge’ quite a bit here on The Paepae. (See these posts.) I admire him. Because my interests in media/internet/publishing intersect with the sort of cases he handles, […]

I was with my wife (She was driving, officer. It’s her car!) on our recent trip to Wellington when we popped around a corner in Newtown and followed the car in front of us … right into, apparently, a Bus Lane. We spotted a bloke in a hi-visibility jacket (I think that’s the whole point […]